EPOS, after branching out from the legendary audio brand, Sennheiser, has cemented a place of its own in the industry. The brand has become known for its products that find use in office spaces, like webcams, headphones, and the like. The brand entered India with a positive reception and has come to be known to provide products that not only inherit their quality from Sennheiser but also bring in one of the best solutions, developed by the team at EPOS. One of the latest entrants from EPOS in the productivity solutions space is the EPOS Adapt 360 Wireless Bluetooth Headset. These headphones come with a lot of promise, not only in terms of their sound but also in terms of the engineering and software integrations that go behind these products, making them to be a force to be reckoned with.
I got these headphones delivered to me at the Digit Test Centre a while back, and I have been using them for calls, gaming, and everything else possible, to see whether they stand up to the claims or not. Having reviewed headphones for the Digit Zero1 and Best Buy Awards, I was keen to see whether these would stand up to the mainstream competition, or they would carve out a niche of their own. So, here are my views on the EPOS Adapt 360 headphones after using them for a couple of months –
The EPOS Adapt 360 draws a lot from Sennheiser’s HD line of Bluetooth headphones when it comes to its design. If you were to draw one to one comparison, then these headphones would be pitted against the Sennheiser HD 450SE (ANC). However, there are a couple of differences that pull these headphones away from the traditional Sennheiser headphones that we have all come to love. First, is the branding on the headphones.
Given that these headphones would be finding use in office spaces and meeting rooms, the branding is much less aggressive on these headphones than that of the HD 450SE. You get the EPOS Sennheiser logo at the end of the headband, and that’s about it. Then there’s additional accent colours added to the buttons, which makes these headphones distinguishable from their spiritual cousins. I got to see both the colourways of the headphones – black and white – and while the black colourway had a bit more of a monotonous and muted design, on the white pair, you get silver accents at the end of the headband, which look great.
As for the materials used, you get a durable plastic build throughout. At ₹24,990, I would have loved if these headphones had a metallic inlay on the headband, as it gives a lot more durability to one of the most strained parts of headphones. Apart from that, there’s not much to complain about. During my long sessions using these headphones, the headband did not dig into my skull, and the earcups ensured that there was no discomfort experienced on that end either.
I passed these headphones around to my colleagues at the Test Centre, and there were almost no complaints about the fit of the headphones from anyone. The swivel on the cans ensured that there was a great seal around the ears, and that provided for great passive isolation, which is a must, especially for a pair of headphones with ANC.
Also Read: EPOS ADAPT ANC 160T USB-C: A single edged sword
With these headphones you get a soft carrying case as well, which is great to keep all your accessories as well. The case has a pocket for storing the 3.5mm AUX cable, the USB-C charging cable, and the USB Dongle that is supplied with the headphones.
Starting off with the most impressive thing about the EPOS Adapt 360 for me, which was the connectivity. When on Bluetooth, the headphones switched seamlessly between my laptop and my phone when I was taking calls. And the trifecta of connectivity options, Bluetooth, wired, and the 2.4 GHz dongle, ensured that I was able to have a ton of flexibility when connecting to a variety of devices. The latency across the two wireless modes was also great, with there being very limited instances where there was a noticeable lag in audio.
Now, coming to the features that EPOS has baked in for people juggling between meetings and calls. When you are connected to a PC with Microsoft Teams installed, and the BTD 800 USB dongle that comes with the headphones is connected, you can launch Microsoft Teams with a single click. This feature worked well for me for the most part. Only when I was more than 3 feet away from my system I encountered a few hiccups. There is app support for these headphones as well, but after multiple tries on my Apple iPhone 13 Pro, I was not able to get the app to detect the headphones. However, given that it seems to be more of a software issue, so EPOS can fix it in a future update to the app.
The remaining features of the EPOS Adapt 360 come in the form of audio tuning, ANC, and the microphone tech packed into the headphones. So, let’s move move on to the performance section.
First, let’s talk about the ANC. The ANC on the EPOS Adapt 360, in my opinion, has been optimised to work best in closed spaces, without much noise, like offices. The headphones do a great job of drowning out sounds like people speaking in the background and constant low-end drones of the AC units and PC fans. When you step outdoors, you get the real taste of the ANC, which is not as strong as you would expect from a similarly priced mainstream consumer headset. And, I guess, if we keep the target audience for these headphones in mind, the headphones do a good job.
For calls, the EPOS has added a pair of microphones on the headset, which ensures that the voice pickup is on point. Again, in closed spaces, the headphones performed well but struggled in outdoor environments with a lot of noise around. Main use case, check. As you can see in the graph down below, the headphones have a V-shaped sound signature, with there being a boost in the low-mids to the mid-treble range. You will also notice the bump in the lows, which is where these headphones get their thump from.
Considering that these headphones are meant to be used for taking calls, the sound signature is on point. The boost in the mids and the highs means that almost all the vocal ranges are covered and are reproduced well. And, the added bass rounds up the experience, if you decide to take a break and watch a few videos or listen to some tunes. Generally, the boost in the highs, means that there is sibilance in the sound, which in the long term causes discomfort to the people who are susceptible to it. However, in this case, it has been taken care of the by the brand. The boost to the high frequencies is not enough to introduce a LOT of sibilance to the sound of these headphones.
Lastly, there’s the battery life. EPOS claims that these headphones can last up to 30 hours with ANC on, when you are listening to content. In my tests, the battery lasted 28 hours and 45 seconds (ANC On, 90 dB SPL). These numbers are pretty close to EPOS’ claim and you should be able to work with these headphones through the day without any hiccups.
This is one of the most critical questions to answer with the EPOS Adapt 360 headphones. When you are out to get these headphones, you need to look at what your needs are. If you are someone who is put at their test through the day, hopping between meetings, and taking calls, with little to no need for headphones suitable for long periods of content consumption, then go with the EPOS Adapt 360 ANC. But, if you are someone who is looking for an all-round solution, I would recommend going for the Sennheiser HD 450 SE, or if you have the budget, go for the Sony WH-1000XM5 or Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless headphones. They bring a host of features along that will boost the day-to-day regular use, better ANC, and sound that will be better suited for content consumption.
